Gaza hospital says 14 killed as UN-run school hit by Israeli strike

Palestinian authorities on Wednesday reported at least 14 people were killed in an attack on a United Nations facility in central Gaza.

Hospital staff said 14 people were killed in the incident in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

The building was a former school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in New York that UN properties should never be attacked nor used by military groups.

A spokesman for the Israeli air force said it hit a Hamas command and control post in Nuseirat after taking measures to minimize the risk of harming civilians.

Two Israeli soldiers killed in helicopter crash

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli military said two soldiers were killed when a rescue helicopter crashed in the Gaza Strip overnight.

It said seven others were injured and transported to a clinic for treatment.

The Yanshuf helicopter belonging to the Israeli air force was on a mission to evacuate an injured soldier to a hospital for medical treatment. It crashed while landing in the Rafah area in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

An initial inquiry indicated that the crash was not caused by enemy fire, the IDF said, noting the cause of the incident was still under investigation.

The families of the two IDF soldiers have been notified.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, 706 Israeli soldiers have been killed, according to military sources. Some 340 have been killed since the start of the ground offensive on October 27, with more than 4,400 soldiers injured.

The war began after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, when the militia and others killed 1,200 people in Israel and took some 250 hostage in Gaza.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 98,000 others injured during the 11 months of the war, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza, in figures that do not distinguish between civilians and fighters.